It all started when Pinkie got a new coltfriend. A darker blue unicorn called Knock Knock. Pinkie fell for him instantly, and they would spend hours just doing knock-knock jokes, way past the point when it stopped being funny even.
At first it seemed like they were made for each other as neither grew irritated with the other even with prolonged exposure, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the rest of us... I mean, don't get me wrong, Pinkie is generally fun to be around, but at times she can get really weird and then even annoying.
He on the other hand became too annoying too quickly. Especially when he replaced me in our weekly "prank-a-tons" as Pinkie called em. It's not that I was jealous, okay, maybe a little, but whenever she was with him, she lost what little focus she normally had and she quickly forgot about me.
And I wouldn't even mind it all that much if he didn't go too far with his pranks - not that Pinkie noticed at that point. Sure, most of them were still funny but they got decidedly more and more uncool, until one day he realy crossed the line for good.
It was the darkest day in Ponyville.
It was a Tuesday, a one month anniversary of AJ and Twilight dating. And of course Pinkie being Pinkie threw them a grand party.
And since she was hosting the party Knock had the perfect opportunity for his little stunt. He replaced all of the apple pies with pear pies.
And here you might think: "Well, how is that bad?"
Well, it's not if you ignore the fact that Applejack was highly allergic to pears! Everyone knew that! The Mayor even banned pears from Ponyville on her behalf when Twilight blackma... convinced her.
And so after the toast we all watched as Twi levitated the first piece of pie into AJs open mouth.
Immediately AJ turned red and swell up to the point she could compare in color and size to her brother. She started shivering and then stopped moving altogether.
Everyone watched in silent shock as the life drained out of her, until Twilight screamed and with a flash of white light she and AJ were gone from Sugercube Corner.
I didn't rightly know what happened at first. It was mostly a blur as it was too much to process.
Why was Applejack just suddenly sick? It happened right after she ate some pie... Was there something wrong with the pie? But how could that be, Pinkie is an excellent baker...
Another high pitched scream brought me out of my daze.
"These aren't the pies I baked! They have pears in them and I know I used apples!".
It was Pinkie Pie wailling after she tried some of the pie that still sat on the table.
Fluttershy cried somewhere to my left and from my right came another, this time angry, scream "What? She was poisoned?" yelled dear Rainbow as if reading my mind.
"I guess so, but we will worry about who and why later, right now we should get to the hospital, as I am sure Twilight teleported them there" I said with great urgency.
Before I finished talking I felt strong hooves already picking me up and flying me outside towards the hospital. As I looked around a bit surprised I saw Pinkie already carrying a crying Fluttershy much like Rainbow carried me.
I just hoped they could've still saved her and that all would be alright.
Rainbow rammed the hospital door and we came to a screeching halt just in front of the reception desk. As we got back to our hooves Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy entered behind us in a bit more dignified manner.
I asked the receptionist about Applejack, she only nodded and escorted us to a waiting room that already contained a single sobbing occupant: Twilight Sparkle.
I told Twilight we found pears in the pie. This caused Pinkie to immediately start apologizing, while I and Fluttershy tried to give some moral support to Twilight, and Rainbow was pacing in circles. After what felt like hours a doctor finally came to see us.
"I'm so very sorry but we lost her" said the doctor, with a saddened look on his face.
Then things went black for me.
When I came to, I was alone with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie in the waiting room. I was told that Twilight went to see the body of her marefriend and Fluttershy went with her for support.
I still couldn't rightly believe that this was happening. Our beloved friend Applejack was no more, and there was nothing we could've done about it...
Or was it?
Yes, we could find the pony responsible for this great injustice that has befallen us.
And we could make him pay.
The next day was horrible, AJ, was still gone forever, Twilight locked herself in the library and refused to come out, Fluttershy couldn't form coherent sentences and kept crying all day, Rarity said she was designing funeral dresses for us at her botique, and Pinkie was sad at home blaming herself.
I positioned the clouds so they covered the sky and turned covered all of Ponyville into mourning darkness.
I was just setting of to fly to Sweet Apple Acers to see if I could help with anything when I heard a loud argument coming from Sugarcube Corner.
"You think this is supposed to make me feel better? Now I feel even worse! How could you do something like that? And you even thought it would be funny?"
"But... but... I didn't mean for this to happen."
"I don't care Knock! This is all your fault! Get out of my sight, I don't ever want to see you again!"
I hid behind the roof as the front door opened and Knock Knock came out grumbling.
As I looked at him the my blood boiled inside me. He angered Pinkie now that she was already devastated from what happened to AJ. He has some nerve.
I noted he went towards the train station.
I decided I should check on Pinkie since I was almost there already. As I flew through her window I saw her crying on her bed.
She turned to me, when she heard me land and said between sobs, "I'm so sorry Dashie, I really am. It's all my fault that AJ died-"
Ok, this was the same thing as the day before... or so I thought when I told her again that it wasn't her fault for not extra checking the pies, it was not like someone expected them to be switched and we haven't received any threats recently, so how could she have known...
Then she suddenly interrupted me screaming
"But I should have known! What kind of clueless pony am I if my own coltfriend poisons one of my bestes friends without me knowing?"
"Woah woah woah! Rewind! Knock Knock did this? He switched the pies?" I said barely containing the new wave of anger rising up inside me.
"Yes! He did it, and I'm sorry Dashie! Please don't hate me! I didn't know he would do something like this..."
My vision started turning red from rage, so I just turned around without another word and flew as fast as I could to the only other pony who could help me process this: Rarity.
Rainbow burst through the door of my fine establishment with such force, it flew off its hinges. I almost fainted again right then and there, even more so when Rainbow told me what she heard at Pinkie's.
I could see the anger burning in her eyes and realised I had simillar feelings on the matter at hand.
So I asked her, "Did you see where he went by any chance? Maybe we can still confront him!"
And I allowed myself a devious little smile when she told that she indeed saw him going towards the train station.
"Good, let's go find him then before he gets on a train!" I told her and led the way outside.
She was eager to follow.
We arrived at the train station in two minutes, and spotted him instantly. He was rather hard to miss being the only pony waiting for a train.
When he heard us approach he turned to us saying, "What do YOU want?" in an annoyed voice.
"We want answers wise guy!" Rainbow was quick to reply.
"Did you switch the pies?" I asked as level headedly as I could.
"So what if I did. How was I supposed to know there was actually a reason that pears were outlawed in this backwater town? I just thought Apples didn't like the competi-"
His speech was interrupted by Rainbows back hooves connecting with his horn shattering it to pieces instantly. He howled in pain as he hit the ground.
I normally would have stopped her but at that moment I was just as angry. Rational thought vacated my mind as I asked, "Do you need my help dear?"
"Yes! Help me! Help me!" cried the pitiful stallion.
"I wasn't talking to you"
Then Rainbow replied, "yeah, you can hold him down and keep his mouth shut with your magic" and so I did.
I held him in place as Rainbow unleashed every punch and kick she knew, and she knew quite a few being a black belt in most martial arts known in Equestria.
After a while he couldn't even scream anymore as Rainbow crushed his vocal cords. Then she suddenly turned to me with a devious glint in her eye, "Would you like to give it a try?".
To my own surprise I said "Yes I would, please hold him for me."
Sometimes even a lady enjoys a bit of violence.
I checked and hit any spots that were already wounded and probed them inside with my magic a bit then expanded my magic field inside them causing an extra bit of pain.
Then he finally passed out.
I stopped hitting him and looked at Rainbow, who still held him with a content smile on her face. Then suddenly her ears perked up and she said,
"I hear a train coming. Let's dump him on the tracks and get away from here before someone sees us!"
I only nodded and levitated his unmoving body to the tracks, when the train comes it would finish the rest for us.
Knowing this I felt a sort of grim satisfaction that justice will be served to the murderer of our dear Applejack.
We ran back to the Carousel Boutique where dash hurriedly fixed the door and closed it behind us.
We stared into each other's eyes to avoid looking at our bloodstained coats as we fully registered what have we just done.
